Eggless cookies studded with tutti frutti(candied papaya bits)and cashews. These indian bakery style biscuits are made by combining together flour & custard powder and are best enjoyed with a cup of chai.
This is an easy one bowl cookie recipe which needs few pantry ingredients. I am also including a quick recipe of homemade eggless custard powder in this post.
In India, cookies are called as "biscuits" hence the name. These eggless fruit biscuits are called so because they are sold at the famous "Karachi Bakery" in Hyderabad, India.These biscuits are super popular tea time cookies - nutty, sweet, crumbly and scented with either pineapple, rose or cardamom.
Karachi Bakery is famous for its delicious baked goods made from unique family recipes of the owner. Their goodies are available online worldwide and in addition to Karachi fruit biscuits, they have a delicious line up of goodies like Osmania biscuits, cashew biscuits, sweet bread & plum cakes and jeera biscuits.
Karachi Biscuits are also a popular gift during Diwali. You can make them for Christmas, for kid birthday parties or for bake sales. Since these are eggless, they are perfect to serve to pure vegetarians or guests with egg allergies.
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Ingredients
Here are the ingredients you will need to make these biscuits. You need very basic ingredients like flour, butter, sugar and milk.
- Tutti Frutti- Indian tutti frutti is candied papaya bits. The bits are dyed using food color and flavored with paan or rose. Tutti fruit is added as a topping on ice cream, custard, milk shakes, falooda etc. Packaged tutti fruit is easily available online and in indian stores. If you are not fond of it, you can make your fruit mix as well by chopping up dried fruits like dates, apricots, cherries, cranberries, dehydrated pineapple or papaya.
How to Make Homemade Custard Powder
Custard powder is available in many flavors in most indian stores. However, sometimes its not possible to find just the vanilla flavored one. In case, you want to make your own to use in this recipe, in a bowl just mix together
- ¼ cup powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoon each of milk powder and cornstarch(corn flour in india)
- ⅛ teaspoon Yellow color powder
- ⅛ teaspoon Vanilla powder. If vanilla powder is not available, its okay to add a teaspoon to the wet ingredients while making the biscuits dough.
How To Make Karachi Biscuits (Step By Step)
This is a one bowl cookie recipe. You need to make a soft dough by combining together all the ingredients. You don't need any mixers or fancy equipment. Indian baking goods keep it simple and that is one of my favorite thing about them. This recipe is perfect for beginner bakers because it is ridiculously simple to make.
Combine softened butter & powdered sugar in a bowl. Using a whisk,mix thoroughly into a creamy mixture.
Add the tutti frutti, cashews and milk. Mix into a wet mixture.
Note :- You can use pineapple essence or green cardamom powder for flavoring as well.
Place a sieve on top of the bowl and add flour, custard powder and baking powder. Sift the dry ingredients.
Note:- Custard powder make these cookies tender and crumbly. It also gives these cookies a beautiful flavor & aroma that we usually associated with indian bakery goods.
Mix gently using spatula into a soft dough.The dough should be soft but not sticky at all. If needed you can add a tablespoon of milk.
Tip :- Feel the dough with hands once its mixed before adding extra milk. Only if the dough feels tight and dry,add milk.
Place the biscuit dough on a cling film or wax paper and shape it into a log. You can make a long cylinder as well. Refrigerate for 2 hours. Note :- Read the storage section on how to freeze and use the dough.
Using a sharp knife cut into thickish biscuits. Place them a bit apart on a parchment lined baking sheet. You can bake in batches.
Bake in a 350F/180C oven for 11 to 15 minutes until the bottoms are browned and the biscuits look a bit brown on edges. Cool on a rack before serving or storing.
Storing Karachi Biscuits
Storing The Biscuits :- Store cooled karachi biscuits in an air tight container for up to 2 weeks. Take out with dry hands.
Storing The Dough- This is a perfect make ahead dough. Make the dough, shape it into logs and freeze for a month. Thaw the dough overnight in the fridge. Next day slice and bake the biscuits. Dont bake frozen dough. If the dough feels sticky after thawing, dry it with a paper towel and make sure is nicely chilled.
My Tips
- Make sure that butter is softened but not melting.
- Milk should be at room temperature when you add to creamed butter & sugar.
- In many countries, powdered sugar is called as confectioners sugar or castor sugar.
- You can add some edible dried petals to these biscuits as well.
Karachi Biscuits (Eggless Fruit Cookies)
Ingredients
- ½ cup (~113g) salted butter softened, leave the butter out of the fridge until you can press it to make a dent
- ½ cup (~65g) powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon rose essence or use green cardamom powder (see notes)
- 2-3 tablespoon milk room temperature
- ⅓ cup tutti frutti I found paan flavored tutti fruitti so I skipped other flavorings
- 2 tablespoon cashew chopped (you can add almonds or pistachios well)
- 1 cup (~165g) all purpose flour
- 4 tablespoon (30g) custard powder vanilla flavor, see notes on for homemade custard powder
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
Instructions
- In a large bowl, add the butter and powdered sugar. Using a whisk, beat well until pale, smooth and creamy.
- Add the tutti fruitt, cashew, rose essence and 2 tablespoon milk. Mix very well using a spatula. Tip:- Make sure that the milk is at room temperature else the butter sugar mixture will become hard.
- Place a sieve over the bowl making sure that its not touching the butter mixture. Add flour, custard powder and baking powder to the sieve.
- Sieve the dry ingredients over wet ingredients. Using a spatula mix very well until no dry flour is visible.
- Towards the end, you can use your hands to combine the dough, dont knead. The dough should be soft but not sticky. If it feels dry add a tablespoon of milk .
- Place the dough in an elongated shape on a cling film. Cover dough on all sides with the cling film.
- Using your hands shape into a log. Smoothen out all the edges and make it as neatly as possible. Refrigerate the dough log for 2 hours.
- When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350F /180C. Line a large baking with parchment.
- Using a sharp knife cut into thick slices. Place the biscuits a little apart on the baking tray.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes until the bottoms are light golden and the edges appear slightly brownish too.
- Cool on a cookie rack completely. Store in an air tight container for 2 weeks.
Notes
- Feel the dough with hands once its mixed before adding extra milk. Only if the dough feels tight and dry, add milk.
- I found paan flavored tutti frutti so I skipped other flavoring. I am noting down rose essence in the recipe because if your tutti frutti isn't flavored, rose is a great flavor to add to these biscuits.
- Make sure that butter is softened but not melting.
- Milk should be at room temperature when you add to creamed butter & sugar.
- Powdered sugar is called as confectioners sugar or castor sugar in many countries. It is sugar fine ground with corn flour.
- You can add some edible dried petals to these biscuits as well.
- ¼ cup powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoon each of milk powder and cornstarch(corn flour in india)
- ⅛ teaspoon Yellow color powder
- ⅛ teaspoon Vanilla powder. If vanilla powder is not available, its okay to add a teaspoon to the wet ingredients while making the biscuits dough.
Anita
Hello Tanvi
Thank you for sharing this delicious recipe. I tried it out and we all loved it! I also shared this recipe with a relative. Its an easy recipe that can be made quite quickly.
I loved how this biscuit just melted into my mouth. The biscuit was a lovely crispy texture when baked. I did however decrease the sugar amount when I made it the second time round. It was still a winner 🙂
Regards, Anita
Tanvi Srivastava
Hi Anita,
Thank you so much for your feedback and for sharing my recipe with your family.It truly means a lot. I am so happy that you enjoyed the biscuits.